Photograph by Nick Abadilla

Chickenbone Slim

Singer-guitarist Larry Teves, AKA Chickenbone Slim, premiered his third Chickenbone Slim & the Biscuits album Sleeper at Proud Mary’s just before the Covid lockdown, on February 7, 2019. “On the 8th, I played my last ever duo gig with the late Tomcat Courtney,” says Teves. “I didn’t know it was the last time I would see Tomcat until his funeral.” With performing outlets shut down, Teves recruited Laura Chavez (Candye Kane) and Marty Dodson (Kim Wilson), along with longtime Biscuit Andrew Crane, for new recordings. “The Biscuits dug into new material written before and during the lockdown. As restrictions were eased, rehearsals tightened up the new songs. The first live performances were Normal Heights porch concerts. That led to busking in Little Italy and outdoor gigs at opening venues, to a recording session at Greaseland Studios, which resulted in a new all-original album, Serve It To Me Hot, and signing with Vizztone Records.”

Their recent San Diego Music Awards show performance featured the record’s lead single, “Wild Eyed Woman.” “The last song I wrote for the album was ‘City Girl,’ based on a lyric Tomcat told me he was working on. He was inspiring to me, and that’s what I wrote the song about.” Serve It To Me Hot will debut December 2 with a release party at Tio Leo’s in Bay Park.

Dewey Defeats Truman

Formed in the late 1990s by members of Red Dye No. 5 and Luper, Dewey Defeats Truman have opened for acts like Jesus Lizard, Archers of Loaf, and Kelley Deal. Their label Silver Girl Records has partnered with El Enojado Hot Sauce to release Serpent’s Kiss Hot Sauce, a band-branded special edition featuring sweet-hot pineapple and habanero pepper flavor in a five ounce bottle, launched at the same time as the indie/emo rock band’s EP The Way You Shatter. San Francisco’s El Enojado Hot Sauce is run by San Diego indie rock veteran Kevin Chanel (The Front, Fern Trio). “The band was burning through bottle after bottle of El Enojado during our immersive songwriting weekends,” says singer-bassist James Reader, “so when Kevin reached out and asked if we wanted to collaborate on our own flavor, we were thrilled.” The Way You Shatter showcases seven new songs, five of which are available on a limited edition clear vinyl, hand-screened 12-inch. It follows a two-song seven-inch released earlier this year, Always Waiting in the Wrong Line, with the first new studio recordings from the band in around 20 years, “Bumped” and “Broken People.” A music video is streaming online for the track “Slow Reaction.”

Bart Mendoza

Sixties-loving singer-guitarist Bart Mendoza first came to local prominence fronting Manual Scan, formed in the early 1980s. The first lineup consisted of Mendoza on vocals and guitar, and Kevin Ring on guitar and vocals. Throughout several lineups, the core of Mendoza and Ring released a string of singles, and an album that was issued in both the U.S. and England in 1986, as the band toured extensively throughout California and Arizona as well as Mexico and England (the 100 Club and the Marquee, among other venues). Manual Scan eventually evolved into the Shambles, Mendoza’s longest-running musical endeavor, still with Ring at his side. Their songs still maintain that ‘60s sound, albeit more powered-up, à la Nick Lowe or Oasis, plus they have a vast repertoire of eclectic covers (Badfinger, the Zombies, unreleased bootleg Beatles cuts, and more). Mendoza just debuted his first official solo EP 66/68, released via local Pacific Records and European label Snap!! Records. Mendoza covers four classic songs that originally hit the airwaves between 1966 and 1968. The tracks were recorded over the last two decades for various projects which never came to fruition, including “Different Drum” (inspired by the Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys version), the Turtles’ “Happy Together,” “Beechwood Park” by the Zombies, and “Sunny,” originally by Bobby Herb.

Little Hurricane

Guitarist Anthony “Tone” Catalano (a former MTV and VH1 audio-video engineer) and drummer Celeste “CC” Spina (a Chicago-born cook and one-time bartender at True North Tavern) of Little Hurricane are a boy-girl blues-rock duo with influences ranging from the obvious (White Stripes, Black Keys) to acts such as Dead Weather, Bob Dylan, and B.B. King. Catalano was once a sound engineer at Carlsbad’s Le Mobile studio and has worked with acts such as Gwen Stefani, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Metallica. After winning Best New Artist at the 2010 San Diego Music Awards, Little Hurricane cleaned up at the 2011 ceremony with trophies for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Album (both for Homewrecker), and Best Alternative.

Their full-length Gold Fever won Album of the Year at the 2014 SDMAs, and the duo’s fourth studio album Love Luck was nominated for Best Blues Album and Album of the Year at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards. They’ll appear at the Music Box in Little Italy on Friday, November 19.

Nights Like Thieves

Founded in 2016, Nights Like Thieves features Mario J. Rivera, who moved to San Diego after fronting Albuquerque’s Left Unsaid, alongside Steve Smith, Scott Vincent, and Franky Guzman. Rivera’s comedic hip-hop band Monster Paws was heard on Jersey Shore, The Real World, and in a Ford commercial. Citing influences such as Deftones, At the Drive In, and Sunny Day Real Estate, their debut EP Light the Fuse and Run was released in 2017 via La Escalera Records. Their third EP, The Forgotten, dropped last year, while this past October saw the release of a six-track EP called Better Late Than Never, mixed and mastered at Joe Marsh Recording Studio in England. A new music video recently debuted online for their track “Follow Light” which features Nathan Leone, from Chicago-based alt-rockers Madina Lake. In addition, their YouTube channel has been posting live rehearsal videos, including a recent clip of them jamming to “I Collide.” Nights Like Thieves will play the Casbah on Monday, November 22, opening for New Jersey rockers Can’t Swim.